Derby Pie

Recently a coworker asked me to make him a bourbon chocolate pecan pie. I’d never heard of such a thing, so naturally I was on board. A quick search taught me that it’s also called a Derby pie, which I think is way more fun – and easier – to say.

All of the key ingredients are right there in the name – bourbon, chocolate, pecans, and pie. I went with this recipe, because I figured a website called “Southern Living” seems like a legit place to get a Southern goodie recipe.

First step, of course, is the pie crust. I got this recipe from Simply Recipes from a friend who has made a lot of pies, and he advised me to use half water and half vodka. When the time came to make the pie, I rummaged in my notebooks and found a print-out of “Perfect Pie Crust.” Thinking that was the one he’d recommended (by now it had been a month or so), I used it. Later, I realized it was one I’d printed out who-knows-when, from Food Network, though I did still do half water/half vodka.

Because I didn’t get to taste the finished product, I have no idea how it turned out! I mean, I was told the pie was “awesome,” but now I feel like I need to go on a tear making pie crusts for comparing/contrasting! Why do I do these things to myself?

In any case, I managed to make the pie crust, get it rolled out and into the pan, and attempted to get it all situated.

Clearly I need to work on my crust-crimping as well! I’m big enough to admit that’s just ugly.

But, once it’s filled up with yumminess, who cares, right? First step was to layer the bottom of the crust with the pecans and semi-sweet chocolate chips. I will not lie; I ate a few chocolate chips and a few pecans along the way. Quality control, you understand.

Then I turned to the rest of the steps… cooking, whisking, more whisking, pouring…

And then the trickiest part: getting the pie into the oven without spilling all over the sides. I moved very, very slowly. Sure, I could set the pie pan on the oven rack and THEN pour in the filling, which I’ve read as a tip for pumpkin pie… but there’s still the risk of it spilling when you push the rack in. I don’t know about you guys, but when I push in an oven rack, it doesn’t just glide peacefully in place, graceful and smooth like a swan. It bumps and jerks along like a frog. Somehow I managed to get it in with minimal spillage.

It took over an hour, but finally, it was done! Next time I make this recipe, I will have to do mini-pies so I can try one myself. I can at least report that the recipient was quite happy!